Bulk car unloader



July 17, 1956 J. F. HoFFMElsTER E-r AL 2,754,982

BULK CAR UNLOADER 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Feb. 28, 1955 FIEIE e n Rsx Rmy fm 3&4 w; f lo. i WWW, DM l Y f .B

`July 17, 1956 J. F. HOFFMEISTER Er AL 2,754,982

BULK CAR UNLoAm-:R

Filed Feb. 28, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 l'K m Jm/ E A/aFFME/srsn ByDoH/:1.22.51 Kane/IK 4 rrozuxys July 17, 1956 J. F. HOFFMElsTl-:R Er AL2,754,982

BULK CAR UNLOADER Filed Feb. 28, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. .l5/wvF//aFFME/srk By 13a/wup 51A/aunk @www United States Patent BULK CARUNLOADER John F. Hoffmeister, Excelsior, Minn., and Donald S. Koncak,Kansas City, Mo., assignors to International Milling Company,Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Delaware Application February 28,1955, Serial No. 490,966

12 Claims. (Cl. 214-44) This invention relates to a facility for theunloading of bulk cars such as railroad cars, trucks or the like, whichare constructed for carrying commodities in bulk. Heretofore, for theshipment of many commodities it has been customary to package the samein bags, packages, barrels or boxes and the shipment of such commoditieshas therefore entailed the loading of the shipping vehicle, whether itbe a boxcar or over-the-road motor transport, with the bags, boxes orbarrels of material which it is desired to ship. The shipment ofcommodities such as flour, sugar, feeds and the like by such methods hastherefore required expenditure of considerable sums for non-reusableshipping containers and this has considerably added to the cost of thematerials delivered to the customers dock.

To overcome such diculties there has more recently been provided bulkshipping containers, which are the vehicles themselves in which theproduct is carried. To this end railroads and over-the-road transporttrucks have been designed having a large clean tank or body, fullyenclosed and suitably equipped to permit the filling of the commoditydirectly into the body or truck without the necessity of using bags,packages, barrels or the like, for the commodity. Such bulk shippingvehicle, which, for convenience is designated a bulk car is customarilyprovided with downwardly slanting bottom surfaces, or conveyors, orother appurtenances, by means of which the bulk commodity can be removedfrom the interior of the car to one or more discharge spouts positionedalong the lower surfaces of the car. Thus, in the customary railroadbulk car there are usually provided two downwardly extending spouts nearthe middle of the car, and centrally located between the trucks thereof.Generally the railroad car has a strong supporting beam along the centerthereof, and in order not to interfere with this structural portion ofthe railroad car the discharge spouts are generally arranged in pairs,one on either side of the central main frame of the car.

As the bulk commodity is shipped, these discharge spouts are coveredover rmly with a covering plate adequately sealed and protected againstthe entrance of moisture, dirt and contaminants. When the car reachesits destination, the cover plates are removed, and connection is made tothe users unloading facility for conveying the material from the carinto bins at the users establishment.

The users establishment must likewise be of sanitary construction, wherethe bulk commodity is a foodstuff used by human beings, and since thedischarge mechanism is located at or adjacent a railroad track, or at oradjacent a loading platform used by over-the-road transport trucks, suchunloading facility must also be so constructed as to be capable of beingmaintained in sanitary conditions under all weather conditions. It is anobject of the present invention to provide an improved form of bulk carunloading facility adapted to be used for of over-the-road transporttype which are provided rice s with one or more discharge spoutsadjacent some portion of the bottom of the car. It is the further objectof the invention to provide an improved bulk car unloading facilitycapable of being readily attached in a convenient and sanitary manner tothe discharge spouts of a bulk car. It is a further object of theinvention to provide a bulk car unloading facility which is capable ofbeing maintained in a sanitary condition during those times when it isnot used for unloading purposes. It is another object of the inventionto provide a bulk car unloading facility capable of being attached tothe bulk car and detached easily and quickly by inexperienced personnel.It is another object of the invention to provide an improved bulk carunloading facility so constructed so as to permit the complete removalof the material from the bulk car without entrapment of any of thematerial or lodging of the material therein. It is another object of theinvention to provide the bulk car unloading facility wherein air may bevented from the entrained material, where such material is removed bythe air slide methods from the bulk car and reaches the loading facilityin a fluidal state, composed of solid material and air. It is a furtherobject of the invention to provide an improved bulk car unloadingfacility capable of being manufactured and installed at low cost at theusers installation and maintained over long periods of service withoutthe expenditure of undue sums of money from maintenance. Other andfurther objects of the invention are those inherent in the apparatusherein described, illustrated and claimed.

Invention is illustrated with reference to the drawings in which Figurel is a side elevational view of one form of bulk car, which for examplemay be of the railroad type. Figure 2 is a transverse sectional viewtaken along the line and in the direction of arrows 2 2 of Figure l.Figure 3 is an enlarged transferred sectional View taken along the lineand in the direction of arrows 3--3 of Figure 4. Figure 4 is an enlargedvertical sectional view taken along the line and in the direction ofarrows 4 4 of Figure 3. Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary verti-V calsectional view of the hopper portion of the bulk un loading device ofthe present invention showing the cover plate thereon.

Referring to the drawings, the bulk cars with which the invention isadapted to be used is herein illustrated generally at 1t) in Figure 1,but it will be understood that the particular form of bulk car thusillustrated is not to be considered as a limitation upon the invention.Thus any bulk car of the railroad or over-the-road transport typesprovided with suitably located downwardly extending spouts ofappropriate design all are adapted to be unloaded by the facility hereinillustrated, described and claimed.

The bulk car shown in Figure l consists of railroad trucks generallydesignated 11 and 12 which support a fully enclosed car body 13. The carbody has a roof 14, which is usually provided with loading openings at15-15. As usually constructed, the bulk car has a smooth and sanitaryinterior surface, and may be provided with internal bracing as at 16-17,suitable for the stresses encountered. Normally, the bulk car isprovided with a floor or bottom surface 2li which may be downwardlyslanted as illustrated in Figure 1. In a standard form of railroad bulkcar, the weight of the car itself is generally carried by a centralgirder 21, see Figures l and 2 extending along the length of the car atthe middle thereof, and attached to the trucks 11 and 12. When thusdesigned, the discharge spouts for the bulk material are usuallyarranged, one at each side of the girder 21, as shown at 22 and 23.These downwardly extending openings are provided with slanting sideswhichy conform in some areas to the slope of the bottom 20 and at otherportions to the upper slope towards the sides or towards the middle ofthe car. The car shown is of one specific design and is therefore to beconsidered as merely illustrative.

Inthe normal form of bulk car the downwardly opening hoppers 22 and 23terminate as cylindrical sponts 24-24 which are provided with a bottomflange at 25-25 upon which a bottom cover plate is arranged to beclamped with gasket 26-26 interposed between the cover plate of theflange so as to effect a complete sealing of the spout during transportof the car from one place to another. At the destination, the coverplate may be removed and at this time the material within the car isdischarged.

For discharging the material, according to the present invention, thereis provided a hopper generally designated 30, see Figures 3 and 4, whichin the illustration herein is shown as located between railroad rails31-31 of the customers siding. The rails 31 3.1 are supported over a pitgenerally designated 32, which is usually composed of a reinforcedconcrete wall 33 and reinforced concrete ceiling 34, with suchstructural reinforcement 35` as may be required to carry the Weight ofthe railroad rails and the heavy vehicle. The hopper 3f) is of agenerally rectangular horizontal plan and in transverse sectionconverges in a downward direction. The hopper 30 has a width W extendingnearly from rail-to-rail, slightly less than the distance between therails 31-31, and has a length L in the direction of the railroad railswhich may be any size suitable to the capacity desired. ln the formillustrated, the hopper 30 is composed of vertical walls 36 and 37 whichform the walls defining the length for the hopper opening in thedirection of the railroad rails. The walls defining the width of thehopper openings are at 3839 in Figure 3 and these walls converge in adownward direction. All of the walls 3639 terminate level at the top, ata horizontal rectangular opening defined by outwardly extending flanges40-40 around the upper edge. The top of these flanges is a little belowthe railroad rails. The walls forming the hopper likewise extend down asshown in Figures 3 and 4 and terminate at a smaller rectangular openingdefined by bottom flanges 41-41, which are to be bolted or otherwisefirmly attached to the flange 42-42 which defines an upper opening inthe screw conveyor housing 44. The conveyor housing 44 is provided witha bottom at 45 held in place by the edge clamps 46-46 and the bottom 45may thus be removed so as to facilitate cleaning of the screw conveyor.The mode of attachment of the flanges 41 and 42 is not illustrated butit will be understood that it may be by bolts, rivets or by welding.

The opening from the hopper 30 into the screw conveyor thus has a widthW-O and a length L-O and is made sufficient so as easily to permit thepassage of the bulk material therethrough and into the conveyor itself.

The conveyor is provided with an end wall at 45 having a sturdy sealedself-aligning bearing of customary design at 46 upon which the shaft 47of a conveyor screw 48 is journaled. The conveyor housing extends at 49to any distance desired, as may be needed to move the bulk material totanks at the customers premises, and power means, not illustrated asprovided, for rotating the screw at a sufficient rate so as to move thebulk material to the customers bulk tanks, as the material enters thehopper 30.

At the junction of the hopper 30 and the opening LO-WO of the hopper,there is provided a coarse grill generally designated 50 composed ofround rods welded together to form an open mesh. These are polished andsanitary, as is all of the interior of the equipment. These rods arefastened to the walls 36-39 of the hopper by welding or other suitablemode of fastening.

It will be noted that adjacent to flange 40 of the hopper andimmediately below it, the walls of the hopper arevertical on all sides,for a short distance and to such vertical portion of the walls there isattached a flexible fabric connector element, generally designated 50.This flexible fabric device may be considered as generally of the shapeof a pair of pants (upside down) and has as many legs 51 and 52 as thereare Spouts to be served, and a body portion 53. The body portion has anedge 54 which is firmly clamped against the interior vertical surface ofthe hopper 30 at the upper edge, the attachment being by means of ametallic ring 55 which is fastened in place by bolt, as shown in Figure5 or screws or rivets or other suitable fastening devices. The tubularfabric waist section of flexible element 50 then extends up around andthen over and down inside the metallic clamp ring 50 and then extendsdownwardly at 56 and through a loose or folded section at 57, whichrepresents slack in the attachment. At the lower portion (afterextending downwardly through the loose or folded section at 57) thefabric bends, and this tubular fabric portion then turns inwardly andupwardly at 58 and continues in an upward direction until slightly abovethe level of the flange 40, whereupon the waist section divides into asmany legs" or branch tubes as needed to serve the maximum number ofspouts on the bulk car. Here, there are illustrated two such legs 51 and52. The two tubular leg portions 51 and 52 terminate at sleeves 59 and60 which are provided with flanges 61 and 62 of the same size as theflanges 25-25 of the bulk car. When it is desired to attach the bulkunloading facility to the car, these flanges 61 and 62 are broughtupwardly against the flanges 25-25 with the gasket 26-26 interposedtherebetween. One or more C clamps are then arranged around the alignedpairs of flanges 25--61 and 25-62' so as to hold the flanges firmlytogether with the gaskets 26-26 likewise compressed into tightrelationship.

On the inside of each of the legs 51 and 52 there are provided flatboardlike elements 64 and 65 which may conveniently be made of metal orhardboard which is fastened in place by flush rivets, cementing or anysuit able fastening. The hardboard elements 64--65 in the legs 51' and52 respectively, assist in forming a smooth slide surface down which thesolid material may chute into the hopper 30.

The entire pantleg element 50 is preferably composed of a fabric havinga moderate degree of permeability so as to allow the outflow of airtherethrough. The reason for this is as follows:

For the discharge of many bulk cars there is provided as a part of thebulk car a device known as an airslide. In the operation of this device,air under pressure is injected into the solid material in the bulk carand after a certain amount of air is thus introduced into the solidmaterial there is formed a fluidal mass or airsolid fluid which has theproperty of flowing in much the same manner as water or other liquids.Without the introduction of air the solid material has a tendency topack and can only be removed by mechanical elements such as augers butthe air-slide permits the ready removal of bulk material almost in themanner of a liquid, after the injection of relatively small amounts ofcompressed air into the particles of solid. However, as the solid-airfluid moves it reaches a point at which the air componentV must beremoved. In many instances the entrained air will become released whenmechanical work is done on the mass, as in a screw conveyor and suchreleased air must be vented. By constructing the pantleg element 50 ofcloth having a moderate degree of permeability, such as canvas, the airwhich is released from the air-solid fluid discharging down the spout 24and into the pants element 50, is at least to some degree immediatelyvented through the pants structure 50. The air is thus permitted tobreathe out through the pores of the cloth of which the pants element 50is constructed. As a result, asthe coalesced solid material movesdownwardly into the hopper 50 it has already released much of the airentrained during the air-slide mode of discharge from the hopper car,and can thus be handled expeditiously and without disadvantage to theuser.

For the unloading of bulk cars where air-slide facility is not utilized,or where other venting means provided it is of little consequencewhether the pantleg structure 50 is made of pervious or of imperviousexible sheet.

After the bulk car has been completely emptied, and the auger 48 hasremoved all of the solid material from the hopper 44-49, the llanges 61and 62 are disconnected from the anges 25-25 and when this is done eachof the pantlegs S1 and 52 may be folded down to the position shown indotted lines on Figure 3 and in this position each will be below thelevel of the flange 40. At this time a cover plate may be put on to theange 40. The cover plate 68 is shown in place in Figure 5 and isdesirably provided with a gasket at k69. Any suitable device may be usedfor clamping the coverplate down so as to compress the gasket and sealthe coverplate 68 tightly against the flange 4i). In this manner theentire bulk unloading facility may be protected from the entrance ofwater, dust, grit or other contaminants, during those periods when it isnot being used. When the pantlegs 51 and 52 are in the thus folded-downcondition, they are prevented from lodging upon the spiral of theconveyor 48 by the coarse grid 50. Since the spiral ights become worn inuse, and may have sharp edges, it is entirely possible that they mightabrasively deteriorate the cloth material of the pants element 50 if thelatter were permitted to come into contact with the spiral ights of theconveyor 48 during periods of nonuse, particularly if the conveyor 48should inadvertently be started at such times.

While the unloading facility of the present invention has beenillustrated with reference to the unloading of a railroad type bulk car,it will be understood that the invention is equally applicable to theunloading of overthe-road transport trucks. Likewise, while two such legelements 51 and 52 are illustrated herein on the ilexible member 50, itwill be understood that more than two may be utilized or only one may beutilized, so as to be correlated with and easily fitted to theparticular form spout appurtenances of the bulk car utilized forshipment of the bulk material.

The form of the invention shown and described must be considered only asillustrative. Many variations within the scope of the inventionillustrated, described and claimed will be apparent to those skilled inthe art, and the invention is therefore not to be limited except asstated in the appended claims.

What we claim is:

l. A bulk unloading facility comprising an upwardly opening box having aconveyor attached thereto for conveying from the box bulk materialintroduced into the box, said box being situated in a roadstead with theupper edge thereof around said opening raised slightly above the surfaceof the roadstead, a llexible coupling tube attached to the inner wall ofthe box near the upper edge and having the other end thereof providedwith a coupling for attachment to the discharge spout of a bulk car,said box having a space therein to receive the tube and couplingtherein, in folded-down condition below the upper edge thereof and abovesaid conveyor.

2. The apparatus of claim l further characterized in 6 that saidflexible coupling tube has a iiat board therein on a portion thereofforming the lower part of the tube when it is slanted upwardly and at anangle and coupled to the discharge spout of a bulk car.

3. The apparatus of claim l further characterized in that the conveyorextends into the box and a coarse grill is provided immediately above itfor protecting the tube when it is folded down.

4. The apparatus of claim 'l further characterized in that the tube ismade of gas permeable fabric.

5. The apparatus of claim l further characterized in that the upwardlyopening box is provided with a top llange and a cover plate is providedfor closing said box when the tube is in folded-down condition therein.

6. The apparatus of claim l further characterized in that said box is inthe form of a hopper which gradually increases in cross-sectional areain the upward direction.

7. A bulk unloading facility comprising an upwardly opening hopperhaving conveyor means connected to the bottom thereof for removing fromthe hopper solid material discharged into the hopper and an upper edgeat uniform elevation forming an opening into the hopper, a exiblecoupling by means of which the upper portion of the hopper can beconnected to the discharge spouts of a bulk car, said ilexible couplinghaving a tubular portion a major cross-section which is attached iirmlyto the inner wall of the hopper adjacent said upper edge, said tubularportion thence extending upwardly to form more than one outwardlyslanted tubular branch, each branch having a lesser cross-sectional areathan said major portion and each branch having an attachment nipple onthe free end thereof by means of which such branch may be joined tightlyto a discharge spout of `a bulk car, the size of said hopper being suchthat the entire flexible coupling including all branches thereof and thenipples on said branches may be folded down into the hopper in the spaceabove said conveyor means and below the upper edge of said hopper.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 further characterized in that a coarse grillseparation is provided in the hopper over the conveyor means.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 further characterized n that stilfeningpanels are provided on the inner walls of those portions of each brandof the flexible coupling which are lowermost when such branch isextended in an upwardly slanted direction.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 further characterized in that the hopper isset between railroad rails and the exible coupling is oriented so thatthe branches can be extended upwardly and outwardly to positions overthe rails for connection to discharge spouts of a railroad bulk car.

11. The apparatus of claim l0 further characterized in that the conveyorconnected to the hopper extends under one of the rails to a positionalongside said rail.

l2. The apparatus of claim 7 further characterized in that the flexiblecoupling is made of gas permeable fabric.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,349,480 Wilsmore Aug. l0, 1920 1,822,530 Kind Sept. 3, 1931 2,222,083Lintz Nov. 19, 1940

